Calls for the Closure of Guantánamo

American Civil Liberties Union

“Congress needs to act now to shut down the Guantanamo Bay prison and all secret federal government facilities where individuals have been tortured or abused, and make sure these horrors never happen again."

Baltasar Garzón, Spanish Judge

Ban Ki-moon, United Nations Secretary General

"I understand that today is the 5th anniversary of Guantanamo’s
prison. Like my predecessor, I believe that prison at Guantanamo should
be closed. I also remember that President Bush himself has said that he
would like to close it."

Church of England Synod

"while welcoming the release of most U.K. prisoners from Guantanamo Bay,
[the Church of England Synod moves to] deplore the continued holding of prisoners there without charge or due
process and encourage Her Majesty's Government to continue to use all
available means to press the United States administration to close the
Guantanamo Bay facility and restore the full application of the rule of
law."

Cindy Sheehan, US Peace Activist

Colin Powell, former US Secretary of Defense

''If it was up to me, I would close Guantánamo. Not tomorrow, but this afternoon. I'd close it, […] And
I would not let any of those people go […] I would simply
move them to the United States and put them into our federal legal
system. The concern was, well then they'll have access to lawyers, then
they'll have access to writs of habeas corpus. So what? Let them. Isn't
that what our system is all about?''

Desmond Tutu, South African Archbishop

Dianne Feinstein, US Senator, D-Calif.

"Guantanamo Bay has become a lightning rod for international
condemnation," Senator Feinstein said. "This has greatly damaged the
nation's credibility around the world. Rather than make the United
States safer, the image projected by this facility puts us at greater
risk. The time has come to close it down."

Edward Kennedy, US Senator, D-Mass.

European Parliament

“[The European Parliament] calls on the US Administration
to close the Guantánamo Bay detention facility and insists that every
prisoner should be treated in accordance with international
humanitarian law and tried without delay in a fair and public hearing
by a competent, independent, impartial tribunal.”

European Union Foreign Ministers

Five Former Secretaries of State

Five former U.S.
secretaries of State said […] the next president should move
quickly to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. That single act would improve America's dismal reputation in the
world immediately, agreed Henry Kissinger, James Baker, Warren
Christopher, Madeleine Albright and Colin Powell.

Gilles de Kerchove, EU Counter-Terrorism Chief

We cannot accept torture in any way. That's against all values of
the European Union, as are any lapse in human rights and methods like
the ones used in Guantanamo […] I think we will have to help the Americans close Guantanamo as soon as possible.

Sister Helen Prejean, Author, Dead Man Walking

Human Rights First

"Human Rights First calls for the closure of the prison at Guantanamo as
a necessary first step to bring U.S. policy back under the rule of law
and to restore the capacity of the United States to lead the world in
the protection of human rights and the preservation of human dignity."

Human Rights Watch

"Guantanamo should simply be closed," [Human Rights chief Kenneth Roth] said. "I
mean it has become a symbol of injustice. It is a scar on America's
reputation around the world. And there is no reason wh[y] anyone should
continue to be held there. People should either be tried before a fair
and proper tribunal or they should be released."

Icelandic Parliament

The resolution, which had been adopted unanimously by Icelandic
legislators including the foreign minister and prime minister,
condemned the "inhumane" treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo and urged
the U.S. government to close the camp.

34 International Associations of Jurists

As leaders of the associations of jurists identified below, we are
calling for the immediate closure of the U.S. prison facility at
Guantánamo Bay. Few governmental operations in democratic countries
have shown such a profound disrespect for the rule of law. Guantánamo
Bay has come to signify injustice for some at the hands of the powerful.

John McCain, US Senator, R-Az

John Murtha, US Representative, D-Pennsylvania

"We're thinking of putting conditions that you have to close
Guantánamo […] Worldwide, I think Guantánamo is a blot on our
credibility and it should be closed […] We're looking at a schedule
that's reasonable to get those people out of there and close it down.''

Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary General

Lord Goldsmith, Attorney General, United Kingdom

“The Attorney General, Lord
Goldsmith, has called for the closure of the US detention camp at
Guantanamo Bay [...] In a speech in London, he said the camp had become a
symbol of injustice and its existence was 'unacceptable'”

New York Times

Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)

Detention camp at Guantanamo Bay affects
the image of the United States, and OSCE recommends terminating the
detention facility, said Belgian Senate President Anne-Marie Lizin at
the OSCE session in Kiev.

Patrick Leahy, US Senator, D-Vt.

Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish Film Maker

"Almodovar told the private Europa Press news agency he was
protesting 'the barbarities they have been committing in Iraq for the
past four years.' 'We're here for peace and for the closure of Guantánamo because it is a disgrace for civilization,' he added.

Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Interior Minister, Saudi Arabia

"Saudi Arabia said yesterday it backs international calls to close the US prison at Guantanamo Bay, where around 450 suspects including some 90 Saudis are being held outside the jurisdiction of international law. 'Of course we support this and hopefully all the Saudis there will be returned to their homeland,' Interior Minister Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz told reporters

Psychologists for Social Responsibility

"Psychologists for Social Responsibility (PsySR) joins many other human rights organizations, and several heads of state, in calling for the closure of the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. PsySR extends its call to include any other prisons maintained by the United States of America where prisoners are incarcerated beyond the bounds of international human rights law."

United Nations Committee Against Torture

The State party should cease to detain any person at Guantánamo Bay and close this detention facility, permit access by the detainees to judicial process or release them as soon as possible, ensuring that they are not returned to any State where they could face a real risk of being tortured, in order to comply with its obligations under the Convention (Conclusions and Recommendations of the Committee Against Torture, 36th Session, Paragraph 20).

United Nations Human Rights Experts

“Five independent United Nations human rights experts today called on the United States to immediately close the Guantánamo Bay detention centre following three suicides there, citing a report they issued three months ago alleging inhuman conditions amounting to torture and the "profound effect" on detainees' mental health.”